Pro

In this Feb. 11, 2013 file picture Hertha BSC Berlin fans celebrate during the second division soccer match between Hertha BSC Berlin and Union Berlin, in Berlin, Germany. Germany's clubs are among the favorites for the Champions League but the country's capital remains a barren wasteland for football at the highest level. For the second time in three years, Berlin is the only major European capital without a top-flight team, yet its malaise goes further in history, with Cold War politics, the Berlin Wall and upheaval all playing their part.Hertha Berlin, the city's best supported club, was relegated for the second time in three years last season, and though it looks assured of bouncing straight back into the Bundesliga again, few in the capital expect it to challenge for the title or play in the Champions League again anytime soon. (AP Photo)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's clubs are among the favorites for the Champions League but the country's capital remains a barren wasteland for football at the highest level.

For the second time in three years, Berlin is the only major European capital without a top-flight team, although its malaise goes further back in history, with Cold War politics, the Berlin Wall and upheaval all playing their part.

Hertha Berlin, the city's best supported club, was relegated again last year after a single season in the Bundesliga, and though it looks assured of bouncing straight back into the top flight again, few in the capital expect it to challenge for the title or play in the Champions League again anytime soon.

It seems the city's division into East and West after the Second World War has had a lasting effect.

No team from the German capital has won the Bundesliga since it was formed 50 years ago and united Germany has not had a Berlin-based champion since 1931, when Hertha defended its first title.

East Germany's Oberliga, which ran from 1949 to 1991, did produce winners from the divided capital - Dynamo Berlin and Vorwaerts Berlin - but Dynamo's record of 10 successive titles between 1979-88 is tarnished due to its association with the state's secret police and allegations of match-fixing, while Vorwaerts — the army team — was moved from Leipzig to fulfill a political agenda in 1953.

Vorwaerts claimed six Oberliga titles between 1958-69, two years before the club was moved again to Frankfurt (Oder) near the Polish border.

"They certainly are tainted, but more so in the case of Dynamo because the link to (Stasi chief Erich) Mielke adds a more insidious side to it when looking back," Jacob Sweetman of the Berlin-based football magazine No Dice told The Associated Press.

But Sweetman added it would be disingenuous to say Dynamo's titles are entirely synonymous with Mielke's benefaction.

"In fact one could say that Dynamo's relative lack of success in Europe was as much down to the political decision to not allow foreign players into the leagues, so this influence wasn't actually always for the best," he said.

East German sides' fortunes have dipped following reunification. Dynamo now plays at fifth-tier level, while Vorwaerts merged with another local side and plays at a level below.

Interest in football has always been high in the German capital. The country's oldest active club is Berliner FC Germania, founded in 1888. Now it languishes at 10th-tier level.

Berlin clubs did taste success at national level after Germany's first official championship was played in 1903, with Union 92 Berlin claiming the city's first title two years later, and Viktoria Berlin emerging victorious in 1908 and 1911.

Hertha ended its run of four straight German championship final defeats with back-to-back titles in 1930-31.

When the Bundesliga was formed in 1963, Hertha was one of its inaugural members, but the club was demoted after two seasons for attempting to bribe players to move to West Berlin, which had been isolated following the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

The German football federation was keen to have a side from the divided city in West Germany's top league and so Tasmania Berlin was promoted through a complicated process. Tasmania quickly found itself out of its depth, however, and completed the worst Bundesliga season in history in 1966, with just two wins from 34 games.

Tennis Borussia Berlin, Hertha's main city rival, could only manage two Bundesliga seasons in the 1970s before dropping to the lower leagues. Financial problems took their toll as they did with so many of the city's clubs.

Blau-Weiss 90 Berlin, the successor to Union 92 Berlin following its merger with another local side, folded in 1992. It had managed one Bundesliga season in 1986-87.

Both Borussia and the successor to Tasmania, which was declared bankrupt in 1973, currently play in the sixth-tier Berlin-Liga.

Hertha was once described as a "sleeping giant" by former Germany great Franz Beckenbauer. But it has found it difficult to draw fans from across the East-West divide.

Arguably, the club's greatest success was its Champions League appearance in 1999, when it drew 1-1 with Barcelona in the second group stage. But promise has given way to despair in recent years.

Hertha fan Johannes Kellner blamed poor management over successive years for wasting transfer fees, not giving young players enough time to develop and failing to keep players' egos grounded. He also blamed the media for stoking unrealistic expectations and increasing the pressure at the club.

"If Hertha are promoted and start doing well (in the Bundesliga), by November they will be talking about reaching Europe," Kellner told the AP.

Not all football fans in the city would welcome Hertha's promotion back to the top flight. One benefit of demotion was giving Berlin a real derby, thanks to the emergence in recent years of former East German side Union Berlin, not to be confused with the 1905 German championship winner.

Union had little success in the Oberliga but has emerged from hated city rival Dynamo's shadow, highlighting its working class roots, overcoming financial difficulties and a spell at fourth-tier level to become the German capital's second-best supported side.

Fans gave blood under the slogan "Bleed for Union" to raise almost €1.5 million for the club in 2004 and hundreds volunteered to rebuild the stadium five years later.

The Bundesliga would likely be a step too far for the financially prudent club and Union's fans are happy to cheer their side on in in the grittier and less glamorous second division.

Indeed, football in the lower leagues is thriving, with the Berlin Football Federation counting over 400 clubs including more than 3,000 teams among its members.

Only Hertha's fans retain notions and hopes of grandeur. After all, not many second division sides boast stadiums with the Olympiastadion's capacity of 74,220.

Follow Us

Post a reader comment

We encourage your feedback and dialog. Please be civil and respectful.If you're witty, to the point and quotable, your reader comments may also be included on the Around the Towns page of The Sunday Republican. Readers must be registered and logged in to post comments on the site. Registration is free. Click Here to register.
A Subscription is not required to post comments only a Registration.